To be fed up of living in the U.K. but have no other options?

[Cuppasoupmonster]

☹️

Anyone else?

100pc this. I lived abroad in a place millions dream of living and by the end was desperate to come home.

Drives me mad when people slag off our country when so many risk life and limb to get here.

I don't blame you OP. I know people always have something to to complain about but I genuinely think the UK is in a period of long-term decline and it makes me so sad.

This was a really interesting article in The Atlantic that gives a macro perspective on everything: www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/10/uk-economy-disaster-degrowth-brexit/671847/

Inthisissue · Today 03:49
See Australia, where I have lived before, would worry me enormously with regards to climate change. We are very lucky in the UK to be a grey, temperate little rock out in the North Sea, it does have its advantages!

Inthisissue - I get your point and I agree, but to describe the UK as 'a grey temperate little rock in the North Sea'...

To me it's a beautiful place, green, lush and peaceful (in terms of freedom from a hurricane season or a monsoon etc - which I know is what you're saying...) I love the UK, couldn't imagine living anywhere else (it would be like a 'transportation sentence' from the 19th century for me to go elsewhere). Travel and holidays are great - but no way would I live abroad.

All you people who hate this country and don't appreciate its beauty and culture - please feel free to go abroad. If you can't go, why can't you go? You'll only know what you've got when it's gone. As for living in Asia - well, it depends where - it's a huge continent - but if you want to talk about inequality and exploitation, there are some rum places in Asia. But it's convenient to see only what you want to see.

Another eg of double standards...France is much more dependent on nuclear power than the UK. That seems to be OK by many Brits - but they'd be protesting on the streets if the UK govt did the same. So many people don't look beneath the surface.

But I agree it's very chic to hate the UK. Luckily I'm very frumpy!!!

How about getting active and start changing things where you are?

Check the Civil Service Job site. There are jobs abroad on there.
Means you don't have to emigrate but can get away !

YANBU. I am so cross that brexit has left me stuck on this tiny cold island!

I am intelligent but autistic so left school before going to uni and so am also not in a position that other countries need to import me, they have their own population who can do the role I do.

Our loss of freedom of movement is such a blow to the UK as a whole…we got lots of skilled workers from other countries and we were able to move too, now we are just this little tiny isolated island with ideas above our station!

I think that's a bit unfair TBH...

It's possible to be fairly highly qualified by many peoples standards in some lines of work (e.g. Graduate, and maybe one year or two of post grad training) but be unable to get work overseas because other countries protect their own job markets to the point of pretty much excluding those who or either not native and/or not locally trained.

Not only that, but the post suggests that the people that actually keep this country running don't add anything of value. The farmers, the care workers, the retail workers, the cleaners, the bin men etc etc...

@Mamma5464 also relate to this - dd had a regression shortly after moving abroad and now is quite entrenched in the autism / SEN system here. Also another language so I feel like moving is unrealistic / very long way off. I’m sort of ok with it as like the country but don’t like not having the choice to leave

So I also relate to you feeling stuck from that perspective OP

i wonder how it works if moving abroad with a SEN child - have to start waiting lists etc before moving? I don’t know what SEN your DCs have but I’m interested, which countries do you feel would be best for SEN?

for what it’s worth OP, I am also in legal, was worried I would have no job options but it worked out fine. Not foreign qualified but the firm I’m at really values the UK experience

Personally, as an immigrant to this country, I think a British passport gives you enormous mobility.Try moving anywhere, or even travelling, on a brown or black passport. It's hard for Nigerian academics to even get a tourist visa to attend a conference in the UK!

Meanwhile a British passport entitles you to be a digital nomad in several countries no matter what your education or skills.

Yes I will be applying for Irish citizenship (I’m in the family queue for all our parents documents!) But being in our mid 50s I think Ireland would suit us better anyway as we won’t have to learn a different language, and Dh not having Irish parentage would have to live there a few years anyway.

I’m sure we are all so sorry that the country changed so much, that the technology changes so much you cannot guarantee your skills won’t be deemed useless tomorrow, that there is no capacity to retrain because it is so expensive and there is nothing to retrain into because it’s all low wage and overworked - and potentially obsolete tomorrow - that as women we have caring responsibilities and are carrying a hell of a lot of burden of prejudice against us.

Low productivity in this country is the result of the governments failure to invest in people and social infrastructure, not to mention the steady demoralisation that working hard for decades for nothing but to pay rich landlords brings. It would rather turn crime and anti-social sex and drugs trades into acceptable statistics than pay for people to find honest livings.

Sounds like a move within the UK might be enough to shake you up and give you a fresh start. There are some beautiful areas which are close enough to big towns so you get the best of both worlds.

You'd be moving away from family at just the right time to make new friends - having small DC really immerses you into a community!

@Mamma5464 also relate to this - dd had a regression shortly after moving abroad and now is quite entrenched in the autism / SEN system here. Also another language so I feel like moving is unrealistic / very long way off. I’m sort of ok with it as like the country but don’t like not having the choice to leave

So I also relate to you feeling stuck from that perspective OP

i wonder how it works if moving abroad with a SEN child - have to start waiting lists etc before moving? I don’t know what SEN your DCs have but I’m interested, which countries do you feel would be best for SEN?

for what it’s worth OP, I am also in legal, was worried I would have no job options but it worked out fine. Not foreign qualified but the firm I’m at really values the UK experience

——
oops misread that OP had SEn DC but meant @BeanCounterBabe

Could you not spend a couple of years retraining in something more desirable like a plumbing trade or similar? You can do those kinds of courses at the weekends and in evenings at a local college.

Agreed....

I think the ability to leave the UK and move across the globe and find work is greatly exaggerated at times, or perhaps just misunderstood, witness the number of times you see "well why don't you just leave...".

In some lines of work and/or with some passports yes it can be relatively easy to up sticks and go...for many it isn't, regardless of how worthy the work they do in the UK, regardless of the level of qualification.

Not only that, but the post suggests that the people that actually keep this country running don't add anything of value. The farmers, the care workers, the retail workers, the cleaners, the bin men etc etc... Thanks for that faint praise. Yes we kept the country running during the pandemic. We're farmers and highly skilled thanks. Members of my family were struggling here decades ago. They bought a farm in Canada and are now highly successful. There is usually always a way forward.

I think people who make these sorts of comments don't really understand how difficult it is to relocate overseas. It's something I've wanted to do for a while now and I've tried my best to make it happen with no success. I am trained and successful in my profession, I've learned the language of the countries I would most like to move to, but would also happily move to English speaking countries such as AUS/NZ. The problem is, for something like 90% of job vacancies, you need to already have the legal right to live and work in the country, and of course, you don't have that right unless you have a job... There are very few vacancies that come with working visa sponsorship. Someone else on this thread shared a list of jobs that you can do in the USA with no experience, but it's not necessarily about having work experience, you wouldn't be able to apply for any of those jobs without having the existing right to work in the UK.
So, to all those making these sorts of criticisms, sometimes you can be doing everything within your power and still not get the result you want. I see this a lot of Mumsnet and other social media, the "if you really want something you will make it happen" train of thought. The reality is, however much you want something and try to make it happen, sometimes you won't succeed, and that can be bitterly disappointing. Allow people to have a moan without adding to their disappointment by making them feel like a failure for "not trying hard enough".

Drives me mad when people slag off our country when so many risk life and limb to get here.

Why oh why is this dragged out on every thread where someone dares complain about life in the UK? People risk life and limb to get to many countries, the UK isn't special you know.

Thanks for that faint praise. Yes we kept the country running during the pandemic. We're farmers and highly skilled thanks

Where did I suggest you aren't highly skilled? And why are you doing farmers down by suggesting that you only kept the country going during the pandemic?

Honestly some people like to see a criticism where there was none.

Sympathy OP.
Where would you ideally like to move to?

Legal is easily transferable. Many countries have conversion course readily available.

But as a pp said.... having a population with a lot of people "not qualified for any jobs that desirable countries want" is indeed part of the problem.

We're the same and I've been looking at relocating our lives and business to Ireland. It would be doable if it wasn't for our aging parents. My sister has already emigrated so I feel I can't just abandon my parents as they have no other family.

Low productivity in this country is the result of the governments failure to invest in people and social infrastructure

Yeah, but........ China produces everything the world needs almost, and at the cheapest price so no point making things in the UK as they will cost 4 times what they cost from China (including shipping) and no buggar will pay the extra. Likewise Amazon delivers everything so our money goes off to the US (what hasn't already gone to China) and Google and Facebook and Netflix provide our entertainment so money pours across the Atlantic.
We are the causes of our own demise as far as productivity.

I'm surprised we are as well off as we are living in the world we have chosen to make.

It's dragged out because tens of thousands risk their lives to cross the Channel with their small children - Of course they could more easily stop off in germany, france, the netherlands, italy ----need I go on! We do seem to be special and we are already more overcrowded than most European countries.